England vs Slovakia Matchday Stats Preview

England have won five of their six games against Slovakia – however, their one failure to defeat them was at EURO 2016 in their only previous major tournament meeting, a goalless draw in Saint-Étienne in which the Three Lions had their most shots (29) in a EURO match on record (since 1980).

Slovakia have scored first in three of their six matches against England but have gone on to lose each of those games 2-1: in both EURO 2004 qualifiers and a 2018 World Cup qualifier in September 2017.

This is England’s third UEFA EURO round of 16 match, losing 2-1 to Iceland at EURO 2016 and beating Germany 2-0 at EURO 2020 previously. They are looking to reach the quarter-final stage of consecutive European Championship tournaments for the very first time.

For just a third time, Slovakia will feature in the knockout stages of a major international tournament. However, they’ve been eliminated in the round of 16 both times, losing 2-1 to the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup and 3-0 to Germany at EURO 2016.

England faced 26 shots in the EURO 2024 group stages, exactly the same number they faced in the EURO 2020 groups, although they had seven more shots this year than in 2020 (29 vs 22). They did, however, only manage 53 touches in the opposition box, only having fewer in one EURO group stage (41 in 2012).

Slovakia had 37 shots overall and 13 shots on target in the EURO 2024 group stage, both highs for them in the group stage of a major tournament. Indeed, at EURO 2020, they mustered just two shots on target in three games.

Across the last two European Championship tournaments, England have kept more clean sheets than any other side (7 in 10 games). All seven of those have been achieved with Jordan Pickford as goalkeeper – the only goalkeepers with more UEFA EURO clean sheets are Spain’s Iker Casillas (9), Netherlands’ Edwin van der Sar (8) and Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon (8).

Slovakia’s starting XIs had an average age of 30 years and 218 days in the EURO 2024 group stage, the oldest of any nation. They’ve handed 809 minutes to players aged 35 or older, with only Italy at EURO 2016 giving more at a single European Championship (870).

Harry Kane has scored six goals in his last six appearances in the knockout stages of major tournaments for England (two in two at 2022 World Cup, four in four at EURO 2020). His seven goals in the knockout stages overall are also the most of any Three Lions player.

Only Germany’s Toni Kroos (130) played more forward passes in the EURO 2024 group stage than Slovakia’s Milan Skriniar (92), whose 203 successful passes so far at this tournament are the most ever by a Slovakian player in a single edition of a major tournament.